Air Navigation and Transport (Arms Embargo) Bill 2024 [Seanad]: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-22
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

Amendment No. 3 is addressing the gaps. Amendment No. 3 focuses on the provisions in relation to the inspections of flights that have been granted permission. Again, this is an issue that was raised on Committee Stage in relation to the flights that have been granted permission. As I say, I will not overstate the fact that there is no obligation to give these flights permission. These are not flights that have an automatic right to transit. They are being given permission to transit.
We have seen a situation whereby there is no follow-up. There is no check in terms of what actually is on these flights. We have heard of the special arrangement, which relates to a slightly different area in terms of military aircraft where, theoretically, military aircraft are going through from the United States without notice but will have no weapons at all on them. How plausible do we believe that is? Especially when we see an under-reporting of 248 flights on the front page of the newspapers this week.
It was raised that it would be extraordinarily onerous to inspect all of those granted permissions because a number of those who are granted permissions are Irish-registered aircraft operating outside Irish territory, which still require exemptions. These are Irish-registered leased aircraft and some of them may not be passing through Irish airports or Irish airspace but are still required to seek exemptions.
It is an interesting area. It is one that needs more attention but I have accepted, in order purely to facilitate, because I want our laws working. I want them happening. This Bill somewhat narrows. What we had previously was going from zero inspection to a mandatory inspection of all those who are granted exemptions. Now, the Bill, as narrowed by this section, would simply be a matter of mandatory inspections for all those who land in Irish airspace, which is estimated to be around 262 flights that have been given exemption. These are flights that landed in Ireland which we know have exemptions in relation to the carriage of munitions, weapons, dangerous goods.
It is a very basic thing. I do not think it is onerous. In fact, the number "262" simply matches to the 248 flights we ignored. The 262 flights landing in our Irish airports would be inspected. Very often we are told that they are probably personal arms. The suggestion is that these may just be personal arms. I think it is very reasonable that we look in the planes and see if what we are being asked for an exemption for matches what is actually in the planes.
This would be put alongside amendment No. 7, which allows and provides for the issuing of a direction to land. Again, now inspections would be taking place on the 262 flights that have already landed and it would allow for those flights that are directed to land. We are going to come to it in amendment No. 7 in terms of directions to land.
I can list flights as examples. On 1 February 2024, there was a flight with more than 6.4 tonnes of US-funded tear gas transported to Israel. On 2 February 2024, there was a Challenge Airlines flight that included more than 24 tonnes of weaponry, all marked as dangerous explosive-containing goods, for delivery to the Israeli Government and IDF contractors. A FedEx flight on 22 May 2025 carrying 13 shipments of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel illegally flew through Irish airspace. AirNav Ireland assisted two Lufthansa flights from Dallas Fort Worth carrying at least 18 packages with fighter jet components. There was an El Al flight on 4 April, very recently, off the coast of Galway shortly before 9.15 a.m. and Elbit Systems of America sent six shipments on El Al flights through Irish sovereign airspace from Newark Airport to Tel Aviv with cargo labelled as "Foreign Military Financing" from the US government again.
We are talking about all those instances of overflights documented, where people are saying "here is the manifest, here is what we are told is on the plane and here is its destination; it is going directly or indirectly to the IDF". Right now, the Government has said there is nothing we can do about those overflights even though it is illegal. Most of them do not even bother asking or many of them do not even ask for exemptions. However, as we will come to in amendment No. 7, now we have a position whereby we can give a direction to require those planes to land. This is putting it down and making it workable. A Minister can give a direction saying that when the public are contacted and told that a flight has left Newark, what is on the flight, that its flight path is right over Ireland and what its destination is, that flight can be directed to land. Then, in the instance that a flight has been directed to land and does land, it can be inspected under amendment No. 3, alongside all of those other flights that have landed. Again, that is not onerous and it is not too much to ask at minimum that the State would have the capacity to inspect those few hundred flights a year that land, as well as those that may land following direction.
If a flight does not land following direction, then we already know they have not submitted themselves to inspection and are therefore in clear breach. That deals with the situation for which Micheál Martin said last month there is no strong evidence. No strong evidence is an example of this language which says we cannot know for sure. There is the suggestion that there is no proof and that if anyone had proof we would ask them to come forward. We are told there is nothing we can do. When proof is being provided, they say that proof would have to be in the hands of the relevant authorities. We have now been clear that such authorised persons would include An Garda Síochána and others. It takes away that excuse of there being no strong evidence because it creates a requirement and a capacity to search for that evidence. If a flight declines to land it will be in breach of the law. The fact is that these companies are real companies. They are not like a shadow fleet, it is FedEx, it is Lufthansa. These are known groups. That is amendment No. 3. I will come to amendment No. 7 in time, which compounds it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-22